Cycling: Arredondo riding high after win on stage 18 of Giro D'Italia

Columbian Julian Arredondo won the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia as Cadel Evans succumbed in the final stages and dropped out of the top three in the general classification.

Columbian Julian Arredondo won the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia as Cadel Evans succumbed in the final stages and dropped out of the top three in the general classification.

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Staff Writer

Trek rider Arredondo, pictured celebrating as he crosses the finish line, was the strongest of a breakaway group in the final climb of the 171km mountain stage from Belluno. His compatriot Fabio Duarte took second place and Philip Deignan of Ireland finished third. Nairo Quintana of Colombia controlled the attacks from his rivals and kept the pink jersey, still leading his compatriot Rigoberto Uran by one minute and 41 seconds.

Frenchman Pierre Rolland, who was the main attacker in the second part of the final ascent, climbed up to third overall, 3mins 29secs off the pace. He had a two-second lead over Fabio Aru of Italy in fourth, whose burst in the last 500 metres helped him gain a handful of seconds over his rivals.

Evans, the 2011 Tour de France champion, could not sustain the pace in the last climb and the Australian dropped to ninth overall, almost five minutes behind Quintana. Today's 19th stage is a 26.8km uphill individual time trial from Bassano del Grappa to Cima Grappa.

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